Durey, Louis (1918): Inscriptions sur un oranger pour chant et piano, op. 16 — Falk/Schleiermacher

Composer: Louis Edmond Durey (27 May 1888 – 3 July 1979) Lyricist: Évariste Desiré de Forges, vicomte de Parny (6 February 1753 – 5 December 1814) Baritone: Holger Falk (born 1972) Pianist: Steffen Schleiermacher (born 3 May 1960) Music Copyright 1920 by J. & W. Chester Lᵗᵈ J. & W.C. 8858 Tous droits réservés. All Rights reserved. Text in public domain. Inscriptions sur un oranger Inscriptions on an Orange Tree for voice and piano op. 16 (1918) 0:00 — i. « Oranger dont la voûte épaisse » ('Orange-tree, whose thick vault'). Tranquillement [Verses Inscribed on an Orange-Tree] Orange-tree, whose thick vault Served to hide our love, Receive and keep for ever These verses, children of my affection; And tell those whose sweet leisure Will bring into this copse That if one were to die of pleasure I would have died under your shade. 1:19 — ii. « Bel arbre pourquoi conserver ces deux noms… » ('Beautiful tree, why do you preserve these two names…'). Très calme [Elegy III. To a Myrtle] Beautiful tree, why do you preserve These two names which a too fond hand Wished to engrave On your solitary bark? Speak no more of Éleonore; Reject these lying symbols; Time has separated the hearts Which your bark still unites. (tr. François le Roux) « Prolongement des Epigrammes et des Pétrone dans leur extrême brièveté, ces mélodies commentent deux petites poésies d’Évariste Parny, d’un romantisme un peu fade. L’inscription de deux noms sur l’écorce d’un arbre y évoque l’éclosion d’un amour que le temps vient délier : ce qui est exprimé dans la seconde pièce par le mouvement contraire (descendant) de la figure d’accompagnement (ascendante dans la première). La dédicataire de ces mélodies est Madame Louise Alvar, chez laquelle j’avais séjourné à deux reprises, à Littlehampton puis à Londres en 1921 et 1922. » "Extending the spirit of the Épigrammes de Théocrite (op. 13, 1918) and the Trois poèmes de Pétrone (op. 15, 1919) by means of their extreme brevity, these melodies (dated 13 November 1918) illustrate two little poems by Évariste Parny, with their rather restrained romanticism. The inscriptions of the two names on the bark of a tree evokes the unravelling of a love which time would come to unbind: expressed is this through the second piece's contrary motion (in descent) within its accompaniment figures (compare with them ascending in the first). The dedicatee of these songs is the soprano Mrs Louise Alvar (1884-1966), with whom in England did one twice stay: first in Littlehampton in 1921; and then again in London in 1922." — Louis Durey Catalogue commenté (Catalogue with Commentary, 1962; unpublished) "Évariste Parny was born into a wealthy Creole family in Saint-Paul, the second-largest commune on the Isle of Bourbon (present-day La Réunion), a French overseas colony in the western Indian Ocean. He was thus France’s first poet of colour and a precursor to the Parnassian Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894; likewise born there), not simply in said regard but, more importantly, in the respect of style and technique. The author’s magnum opus are his Poésies érotiques (Erotic Poetry, 1778), a four-section sequence of amourous verses chronicling the course of his passions for Esther Trousaille, whom he hymns under the name of Eléonore. For his miniature cycle, Durey encapsulates their relationship by presenting a couple of poems: one from the first chapter (Vers gravé sur un oranger), then another from the fourth (Elégie III : À un Myrte), in which its writer wishes to efface the inscription carved on the tree in the former. The pits and summits of love are skilfully reflected in these slender pieces, cleverly conceived as mirror-images in a certain sort of contrary movement in music and emotion. It was, perhaps, Durey’s interest in Parny which drew the attention of his elder friend Maurice Ravel to the Chansons madécasses (Madagascan Songs, 1787). The tropical evocations of his settings of those Chansons (1925-1926) are, in turn, some sort of Images à Crusoé (Durey's 1918 op. 11: cantata on texts by Saint-John Perse) of his own." — Graham Johnson (text revised) The Hyperion French Song Edition: Songs by Louis Durey (liner notes, 2002) P.S: Pardon the accidental nomenclaturial misalignment within the first slide. Selon la description de cette chaîne, je ne possède rien dans cette vidéo. La musique et ses interprétations ont été téléchargées exclusivement et entièrement à des fins de divulgation et de diffusion de l'intérêt pour la musique et les arts. As per the description of this channel, I do not own anything within this video. The music and performances have been uploaded exclusively and entirely for the purposes of divulgation and spreading interest in music and the arts.